EDITED MOOT PROBLEM

The Republic of Indisthan is the world’s largest democracy and the country is
second fastest growing economy of the world. The Indisthan gained independence
from the British colonial rule in 1947. The laws of Indisthan and the Constitution
which came into force in 1950 are in pari materia, with the Constitution of India
and the laws prevailing in India. The Constitution of Indisthan provides for a
Parliamentary form of Governance with the concept of cooperative federalism
wherein three main functions of the government, namely, legislative,
administrative and finance is divided among the Centre and 28 States. The
Judiciary of Indisthan is integrated one where independence of judiciary has been
upheld as a basic features of the Constitution.

Indisthan is an agriculture based economy, where more than 50% of the population
depends on agriculture. The farming and agricultural activities mainly depend on
the rivers that flows through the states within the country. More than 80% of the
rivers of the Indisthan are inter-state rivers. Panchnadi is a river which originates
in Bokara district in Gandhivari state and it flows through the Gandhivari and
Manjhira, a lot of its basin area is covered by Kunarwara and the Lankashir.
Millions of acres of agricultural land have been developed around the river and
Manjhira has become heavily dependent on the river. Both the states made an
Agreement in 1925 during British regime on distribution of water of Panchnadi.

The real problem arises when Gandhivari started to construct a dam over the
Panchnadi and the state wanted to discontinue the water supply to Manjhira.
Manjhira opposed the construction of dam as the livelihood of farmers would be
affected if there was a change in the distribution of water. Moreover, Manjhira
argued that Gandhivari violates the principle of water distribution as defined in the
Agreement of 1925. The government of Gandhivari argued that that the river
originated in their state, they had better claim over the river; moreover, the
Agreement had lapsed when its 50 years were up in 1975.

The dispute continued with protest and dharna and no visible solution. A farmer's
Association from Manjhira moved to the Supreme Court (SC) and demanded that a
tribunal be formed for the adjudication for the Panchnadi water dispute. The
Supreme Court directed the Central Government to constitute Panchnadi Water
Disputes Tribunal (PWDT) and accordingly, it was constituted in 1990.

The PWDT passed its final award which upheld the Agreement of 1925 executed
between the governments of both the states. The Tribunal in its award clearly
distributed water among the states in the following proportions:

Manjhira: 410 TMC (Thousand Million Cubic)

Gandhivari: 250 TMC

Kunarwara: 30 TMC

Lankashir: 10 TMC

Aggrieved by the decision of the Tribunal, Gandhivari approached the Supreme

Court with a Special Leave Petition on the ground that the award was unjust, as
major share of water will go to Manjhira which will leave many areas of
Gandhivari with shortage of adequate water for drinking and agriculture. The said
petition was contested by Manjhira, inter alia on the ground that the specific bar in
the Interstate River Water Disputes Act, 1956 and in pursuance of Article 262 of
the Constitution of Indisthan.